Dead & Company Concludes Grateful Dead 60th Anniversary Celebration With Trey Anastasio
Grahame Lesh was also back for another sit-in with the band at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
By Andy Kahn Aug 4, 2025 • 8:45 am PDT
Dead & Company’s three-day celebration of the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary culminated at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, where another massive crowd gathered for Sunday’s finale.
Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio began the day by leading his solo band through an opening set that included a special tribute to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, ahead of Trey Anastasio Band’s cover of “Mission In The Rain.”
Anastasio stated:
“I’m so happy to be here. I was having this moment and I want to say this very quick thing about how grateful I am to be part of this birthday celebration. I saw my first Dead show in 1981 at the New Haven Coliseum and fell in love with all of it, but I want to right at this moment do a particular heartfelt shout out to Mr. Jerry Garcia.
“We’re all here to celebrate. I think to myself, I look at this crowd and this guy came along and here we all are all these years later. So, I want to sing this song now and try to express my love for him. Please sing along because I’ll do the best I can. I really don’t believe that anybody can sing this song except for him. So help me out, please, and help all of us out.
“Wherever you are, standing up on your moon or whatever Jerry, thank you for all you gave us. It’s incomprehensible the amount of joy, and we’re all here. We’re all here.”
Like Friday’s opener Billy Strings and Saturday’s opener Sturgill Simpson, Anastasio returned to sit-in with Dead & Company, who also again welcomed Grahame Lesh back for his third appearance of the weekend.
Grahame Lesh, whose father Phil Lesh was the Grateful Dead’s co-founding bassist who died last October at age 84, was part of a group of other children of the Grateful Dead who introduced Dead & Company before Sunday’s finale.
Grahame was joined by Mickey Hart’s daughter Reya Hart, Bob Weir’s daughters Monet Weir and Chloe Weir, Jerry Garcia’s daughter Trixie Garcia, Robert Hunter’s daughter Jesse Hunter Keilt and (former Dead & Co member) Bill Kreutzmann’s son Justin Kreutzmann, who spoke on behalf of the contingency.
Hart and Weir then took the stage with with keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, drummer Jay Lane, bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarist John Mayer and got the show rolling with a swinging “Let the Good Times Roll.”
A rare first-set placement of “China Cat Sunflower” into “I Know You Rider” came next, and the band dug into the seamless transition between the frequently united songs. The remainder of the set was devoted to Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter-written songs, with Mayer first steering the group through a downshifted “They Love Each Other.”
The band then visited “Shakedown Street” and turned in one of the longest improvised segments of the night. Burbridge’s playful, jazzy runs on his new Dire Wolf bass supplemented Mayer and Chimenti’s funky exchanges. Sunday’s six-song first set was punctuated with a rousing run through “Deal.”
When Dead & Company came back for the second set, Mayer told the massive crowd, “Please welcome to the stage, your friend and ours, Trey!”
Anastasio walked out and stood between Weir and Burbridge and proceeded to sing lead on “Scarlet Begonias,” like he did 10 years prior at the Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead 50th anniversary concert in Chicago.
“Scarlet Begonias” made its customary segue into “Fire On The Mountain” and unfurled explosive interplay between Anastasio and Mayer as each guitarist volleyed between melodic phrases. Anastasio has a long familiarity with “Scarlet > Fire,” which was played by Phish at their first known show in 1983.
Burbridge took the first verse of “Fire On The Mountain,” Weir sang the second verse, Anastasio handled the third verse and Hart added his proto-rap verse as well. After exchanging a barrage of notes and smiles, Anastasio completed his guest spot and embraced the other musicians before exiting the stage.
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| Todd Norris (See 76 videos) | |
| Dead & Company (See 671 videos) and Trey Anastasio (See 283 videos) |
Grahame Lesh came on and Burbridge left the stage before a performance of “Broken Arrow.” Dead & Co. debuted their cover of the song by The Band’s Robbie Robertson earlier this year at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Robertson included “Broken Arrow” on his 1987 self-titled solo debut album and the Grateful Dead performed it over 30 times between 1993 and 1995, each time with Phil Lesh on lead vocals. Mayer sang “Broken Arrow” on Sunday in San Francisco and Grahame Lesh played his father’s Doug Irwin bass guitar.
Burbridge was back for the subsequent “Hell In A Bucket,” but shared bass duties with Lesh for “Cumberland Blues.”
Hart started the “Drums” portion of the second set, inducing the drone of The Beam and triggering his sound-generating system. Lane and Burbridge accompanied Hart for the reverberating percussion jam that eventually circled back to Hart bowing The Beam for the transitory shift to “Space” and the reemergence of the full band at its conclusion.
Weir then steered the sentimental “Standing On The Moon” that rose out of the elongated “Space.” Back-to-back “sugar” songs followed with the sweet pairing of “Sugaree” and “Sugar Magnolia.”
The resilient survival message of the Grateful Dead’s lone “hit” song, “Touch Of Grey,” served as the final statement of the celebratory weekend at Golden Gate Park.
The Skinny
The Setlist |
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Setlist Notes
Setlist info via Phantasy Tour. |
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The Venue |
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Golden Gate Park [See upcoming shows] |
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20,000 |
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2 shows |
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The Music |
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6 songs |
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9 songs |
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15 songs |
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1977 |
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6.6 [Gap chart] |
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None |
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All |
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Touch Of Grey LTP 03/20/2025 (20 Show Gap) |
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Aoxomoxoa - 1, Workingman's Dead - 1, American Beauty - 1, From the Mars Hotel - 1, Shakedown Street - 2, In The Dark - 2 |
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Audio (Taped by Z-Man)
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